Video: John Ziegler’s arrest

posted at 3:10 pm on April 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

From the Someone Left the Irony On Department, John Ziegler gets arrested by security guards outside USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism for committing … er … journalism. He wanted to ask people attending their ceremony honoring Katie Couric with their Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism about the award, and the Annenberg School of Journalism apparently objected to … er … journalism. Watch the whole video, as John provides a good running commentary:

Link:

When will Reporters Without Borders lodge a protest against the Annenberg School of Journalism for having journalists arrested? Would Walter Cronkite have approved of police locking up reporters for merely covering an event and walking on property that is very obviously open to the public in doing so?

The Annenberg School of Journalism … teaching journalists how to stonewall and intimidate … journalists.

Whaaaa! They didn’t execute him on the spot–Those cops are Right Wingers! Everyone knows that they all deserve death for opposing the wondrous greatness of Obama and the socialist movement! They are not tolerant, and we cannot tolerate that! Off with their heads! Then we shall be a tolerant nation!

/Leftist mentality off (though I have to admit, I think I used too big of words to adequately sound like a liberal).

I like how the liberal trolls in this thread, such as getalife and Shipley, seem amused by the sight of people getting arrested for speaking up.

Man, I wish Bush and Cheney had been as evil as Shipley thinks they are–I would rather enjoy the sight of CNN, et. al. screaming as they are waterboarded. Since Shipley seems to think it’s a-ok for a person to be arrested for a point of view, that is.

Apparently the lesson from UNC-CH… easier to send two cops to stifle a smiling conservative’s free speech rights than to try and stop radical leftists from stifling another conservative’s free speech rights.

No kidding, this is, indeed, FASCISM! The unmitigated gall of a Journalism award being delivered by a group that deliberately violates a journalist’s First Amendment rights, OUTSIDE THE AWARDS CEREMONY!

Okay, Shipley: Do you agree with arresting people for asking questions? Only if they are conservatives, right, since you appear to be defending USC here. Put up or shut up: you agree that Ziegler should have been arrested here, right? And you further agree that this should happen more often?

No, he doesn’t actually. I assume the University of Southern California is allowed to remove people from campus if they deem it appropriate. Again, if you’re a journalist and you want to cover an event, you show your press credentials.

Zeigler just showed up, I assume in an attempt to mock Couric and in general, act like a jackass (to which I say — Mission Accomplished). This was not a journalistic endeavor.

Another USC Annenberg project in the news yesterday featured their funding of a “newsworthy” study of 13 people from which the determination was made that Twitter ruins young brains, not allowing the necessary 17 seconds to DECIDE which emotion to attach AS APPROPRIATE per message.

I hate to agree with TS – but I kept thinking – it is a private university and most folks with cameras have to have a permit to show up even here at Purdue – a public, state-funded university.

However, if John were not breaking any laws greater than trespassing, this seems a bit silly to have done what they did. It would have behooved them to politely move away (which he should comply to – it is private) and have done with it.

Rick Kaplan reminded everyone about the importance of journalism for democracy. “I don’t think any of us went into this because we thought it was a good business model. We did it because we care about what we are doing. Democracy is at its strongest when we are great.”

From where I sit, Ziegler has an unlawful detention (kidnapping) lawsuit to file against these goon tools(Heckelman et al) and against USC. Ziegler, get a criminal or civil lawsuit fund together and I will donate.

Have other reporters been allowed to ask questions out there on previous occasions and was JZ singled out?

This should be good going forward. Any liaryers out there for comment?

I agree with John and his wanting to make a point, but he was asked to move along by legal representatives of the university. They had every right to ask. If this had been a NYTimes reporter at Bob Jones – would we react the same?

I kept thinking “John, just do what you were asked to do by the policeman – and keep filming.”

This stuff is just too good! Everything that the libs said Bush was – but he was not – they are. This is really tearing up the Constitution. But what of it? The One is calling the shots now. God help U.S.All.

This is outrageous! Hope John gets this out more widely! What is our country coming to? First they say he’s not a journalist, then they say he is so they can put him in the “designated area.” Ah Kaleefornia, how far you’ve come. But with the UNC video with Tancredo, North Karolina isn’t far behind.

Now, I just have to share my personal story. I once hired the daughter of one of the Big Wigs in Annenberg. She was a fabulous writer, highly talented. He was a complete drunk and really not a fun one.

His “gig” with them was shockingly a huge, huge academic rip-off deal. Mostly, he funded ridiculous boondoggle trips around the globe, while pontificating like mad.

The guy never did a smidge of journalistic work in his entire life and, this was personal, gave the absolute worst father toast at her wedding that I ever saw in my entire life.

This jerk sent her to USC, of course……

And then wrote her a note in her first semester saying, “Sorry, but I can’t afford the tuition.”

Who’s surprised by this? And then he is stunned by calls of “fascism.” Buddy, arresting people for having a different opinion is pretty much one of the foundational tenets of fascism that you fully support, apparently.

Good to know!

We’ve gone from “I may not agree with what you have to say but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” to “As a liberal, I will not agree with what you say and I’ll arrest you for saying it. Oh, and I support civil rights.”

The fact that you call John Ziegler a journalist just illustrates how much you don’t know about the profession.

Tom_Shipley on April 16, 2009 at 3:22 PM

Hmm, well, Ziegler used to be a sportscaster, wrote a long running newspaper column and has even penned op-eds for none other than the L.A. Times. He’s also produced several documentaries. Basically he’s a journalist.

The fact that you call John Ziegler a journalist just illustrates how much you don’t know about the profession.

Tom_Shipley on April 16, 2009 at 3:22 PM

First year Alinsky tactic.

RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

get real.
This guy is just exact ideological photo negative of Michael Moore.

strangelet on April 16, 2009 at 3:37 PM

Really? let’s see your proof! let me see him lying on camera! Micheal Moore has been caught editing and lying on camera more times than I can count. I have not seen John proven a liar one single time. let me see your proof! liar…

Moore is fun to watch. I loved his original film about Detroit. I even liked Sicko. He’s an entertainer with a documentarian twist, as he used to admit before he started diving into politics for real. I don’t know if he’s still quite so honest.

Reality check: Ziegler criticizes Couric as being advocacy instead of journalism, but he’s doing exactly the same thing. More importantly, that’s USC’s private property and they can eject anyone they want. (And, yes, that location is within the school grounds of a private university, not out in public space.) Would it be nice if they held themselves to a higher standard than that legally required? Certainly. But Ziegler was being obnoxious and refused to leave private property, so I don’t see where those who believe in property rights get any cause to be outraged by USC’s actions. We cheered NYU’s assertion of its property rights against leftists and blamed the victims of police brutality for not being smart enough to keep their mouths shut and act respectfully towards an officer. USC security was remarkably patient with Ziegler’s need to dominate the conversation with his ideology, and just because we might agree with that ideology doesn’t make him any less of a jerk than a lefty doing the same thing.

If this was instead, CNN standing there interviewing people on a public right-of-way……well you know the outcome would have been different. The bottom line for me is this: for every single one of these “mistakes” the Lefties make, such as this one, “an angel rings a bell” or whatever that phrase was from “Christmas Story” – in other words, one more fence-sitting independent moves off the fence and moves to the conservative side. One by one…………2012 is coming and The Messiah will be back on the mean streets of Chi-Town selling crack with Rezko and Rev. Wright……….